The Motherly Shechinah

“For thus said the Compassionate
One…Like a person whose mother comforts
him, so will I comfort you, and in
Jerusalem you will be comforted.”
(Isaiah 66:12,13)

Dear Friends,

In our Hazon letters, we often refer to
Hashem as “the Compassionate One.” As
our sages taught: “Wherever God is
referred to as Hashem, it designates the
Divine attribute of compassion, as it is
written (Exodus 34:6): ‘Hashem, Hashem,
Compassionate God’ ” (Sifrei on
Deuteronomy 3:24).

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains
that the Hebrew word “rachamim” -
compassion - is derived from the Hebrew
word “rechem” - womb. The most sacred
Name of God that we refer to as Hashem
can therefore connote the compassion of
a mother for the life which comes from
her womb. (Commentary to Genesis 43:14.)

With "motherly" love, Hashem longs for
us when we have strayed, and when we
begin the process of “teshuvah” –
return - Hashem will welcome us home.
This message is found in the prophecy
about “Ephraim” – a name of our people –
which is chanted on the Second Day of
Rosh Hashana. In response to Ephraim’s
cry, “Bring me back, and I shall return,
for You are the Compassionate One, My
God” (Jeremiah 31:17), the Compassionate
One responds:

“Is not Ephraim My precious child, the
child of My tender care? For even while
I speak against him, I remember him
constantly; therefore My innards yearn
for him; I will surely have compassion
upon him, spoke the Compassionate One.”
(Jeremiah 31:19)

The classical commentator, Rashi, in his
commentary on the above verse, writes,
“These are the words of the
Shechinah.”

This loving message of the Shechinah
reminds us that we do not need an
intermediary in order to return to our
Beloved. In this spirit, the noted 13th
century sage, Rebbenu Yonah of Gerona,
conveys the following universal message:

“O human being who has willfully sinned
or erred and seeks to take refuge under
the wings of the Shechinah and to enter
the paths of teshuvah, I will make you
wise and enlighten you in the proper
path to travel. On that day, let him
cast off all the sins he has committed
and consider himself as though he was
newly born on that day.” (The Foundation
of Teshuvah – cited in the ArtScroll
Machzor for Rosh Hashana).

As Rebbeinu Yonah reminds us, returning
to the paths of “teshuvah” enables a
human being to be born again and to come
under the wings of the motherly
Shechinah.In this spirit, the
Torah mentions that Avraham and Sarah
were accompanied by “the souls they made
in Haran” (Genesis 12:5). Rashi, citing
Midrash Rabbah, writes: “They are
said to have ‘made’ the souls, for they
took them in under the wings of the
Shechinah.”

There is a prophecy about a dialogue
between Zion and the Compassionate One
regarding the painful exile, and this
dialogue can serve as another example of
the relationship of the Shechinah to Her
children. The dialogue opens with the
following statement of Zion, and
according to the 12th century biblical
commentator, Ibn Ezra, “Zion” in this
verse is a poetic reference to the
Community of Israel:

“And Zion said: The Compassionate One
has forsaken me; the Master of All has
forgotten me.” (Isaiah 49:14).

“The Compassionate One has forsaken me”
– The Shechinah has left me.
(Targum Yonasan)

And what is the Divine response to the
Community of Israel? The Compassionate
One answers:

“Can a woman forget her baby, or not
feel compassion for the child of her
womb? Even these may forget, but I would
not forget you.” (verse 15)

In this statement we find Divine
reassurance that the Shechinah has not
abandoned Israel. And even if in rare
situations a human mother may forget her
child, this is not the case with the
eternal and loyal Divine love: “Even
these may forget, but I would not forget
you."

Just as a child learns to trust his
loving mother, so too, we human beings
are to develop the humility which will
allow us to trust in Hashem in all
matters – both physical and spiritual.
This concept is expressed in the
following prayer of King David:

“O Compassionate One, my heart was not
proud, and my eyes were not haughty, nor
did I pursue matters too great and too
wondrous for me. I swear that I calmed
and quieted my soul like a suckling
child on its mother, like a suckling
child is my soul.” (Psalm 131:1,2)

“Like a suckling child is my soul” -
My soul within me was before You as an
infant suckling its mother’s breasts.
(Rashi)

In Aramaic, a language which is closely
related to Hebrew, the verb “racham”
often means “love”; moreover, a
beautiful Aramaic name for Hashem which
is used by our sages is “Rachmana” – a
name which can be translated as, “The
Loving One.” The above teachings
concerning the Shechinah remind us that
the Compassionate One is the Loving One.
In this spirit, the Prophet Jeremiah
proclaimed to us:

“Thus said the Compassionate One… I have
loved you with an eternal love,
therefore I have extended lovingkindness
to you.” (Jeremiah 31:1,2)

May Rachmana bless us with a Good and
Sweet Shabbos.

Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)

Related Teachings:

1. Examples of how the word “”love” in
Aramaic is “racham” can be found in the
ancient Aramaic translation of the Torah
known as “Targum Onkelos.” (See Genesis
25:28, 29:18; Deuteronomy
6:5,7:8,10:18,10:19.)

2. The High and Exalted One is also the
Loving One, as it is written: “For thus
said the High and Exalted One, Who
abides forever and Whose Name is Holy: I
abide in exaltedness and holiness, but I
am with the despondent and lowly of
spirit - to revive the spirit of the
lowly and to revive the heart of the
despondent.” (Isaiah 57:15).

In this proclamation, explains Rashi,
the Loving One is telling us, “I am
with the lowly and the despondent, upon
whom I rest My Shechinah.”

3, Just as a mother hovers over the bed
of a sick child, so too, the Shechinah
hovers over the bed of a sick person. As
the Talmud teaches in the name of Rav:
From where do we know that the
Shechinah rests on the top of the bed of
a sick person? As it says (Psalm 41:4):
“The Compassionate One will support him
on the sickbed.” (Nedarim 40a)